HIZBALLAH’S RESILIENCE DURING THE ARAB UPRISINGS

Year 2015, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 28 - 52, 01.01.2015

Joseph Alagha

Abstract

Hizballah The Party of God , better known as the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, is infamous for its ‘terrorist’ global reach and militant face. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Hizballah abducted Westerners in Lebanon and fought the Israeli Army until Israel withdrew its forces in 2000. In this Arab Spring/Uprisings, Hizballah is fighting alongside the Syrian regime and lending logistical support to the Iraqi and Yemeni Shi’ite armed militias. Hizballah seems to shift within the parameters of pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism, while maintaining its Lebanese national identity at the center. Notwithstanding, Hizballah moves between militancy and integration, the former exemplifies its hawkish policy during the Arab Uprisings, while the latter illustrates its dovish domestic face of being an integral part of the Lebanese state, from which it derives its legitimacy. This shift fueled Sunni-Shi’a divide or discord fitna , threatening a serious spillover of the Syrian civil war into Lebanon after ISIL and Nusra battled Hizballah and the Lebanese Army on Lebanese soil

Keywords

Arab Spring/Uprisings, ISIL, hegemony, infitah ‘opening-up’, Sunni-Shi’a discord fitna, power vacuum, Syria, Lebanon

ARAP İSYANLARI SIRASINDA HİZBULLAH’IN DİRENCİ

Abstract

Daha çok Lübnan İslami Direniş olarak bilinen Hizbullah Allah’ın Partisi ‘terörist’ küresel erimi ve militan yüzü ile kötü bir üne sahiptir. 1980’lerde ve 1990’ların başında Hizbullah Lübnan’da Batılıları kaçırmış ve 2000’li yıllarda askeri güçleri geri çekilinceye İsrail ordusu ile savaşmıştır. Arap Baharı/İsyanlarında, Hizbullah Suriye rejimin yanında savaşmış ve Iraklı ve Yemeli Şii askeri milislere logistik destek sağlamıştır. Hizbullah pan-Arapçılık ve pan-İslamcılık parametreleri çerçevesinde bir kayma yaşarken, sahip olduğu Lübnan ulusal kimliğini merkezde tutmaya devam etmektedir. Buna rağmen, Hizbullah militanlık ve entegrasyon arasında hareket etmektedir; ilki Hizbullah’ın Arap İsyanları sırasındaki şahin politikasını temsil etmekteyken, ikincisi meşruiyet devşirdiği Lübnan’ın ayrılmaz bir parçası olmasına dayalı güvercin yüzünü göstermektedir. Bu kayma Sünni-Şii ayrışmasını yada nifakını fitne beslemekte, Lübnan topraklarında Hizbullah ve Lübnan ordusunun IŞİD ve Nusra Cephesi ile savaşmasının ardından ciddi bir şekilde Suriye iç savaşının Lübnan’a taşması tehdidini ortaya çıkarmaktadır

Keywords

Arap Baharı/İsyanları, IŞİD, hegemonya, infitah açılım, Sünni-Şii nifakı fitnesi, güç boşluğu, Suriye, Lübnan

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